George Ranch bests Foster in thriller to highlight Week 1 action - Page 3
The ShackBurger, fries, and vanilla milkshake at the new Shake Shack in Sugar Land - page 8
WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 30, 2023 JEANNE GREGORY REALTOR®, CRS, GRI, ABR
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 48 • No. 37 • $1.00
Fort Bend ISD calls for second tax rate election in two years By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
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Planned Community Developers announces plans for Lake Pointe Plaza
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A year after failing in a voter-approved tax rate election, the Fort Bend ISD board is trying again after calling for a 4-cents-per-$100 increase in the ad valorum tax last week. Citing the continuing uncertainty over whether the Texas Legislature will increase the basic allotment received by public school districts while also imposing new mandates like having armed
security officers at every campus, FBISD officials made the case to the board over the past few weeks that a voterapproved tax rate election, or VATRE, was necessary this year. In a highly polarizing election last November, voters rejected a proposition that would have kept the tax rate at its current level but allowed the district to make use of socalled “golden pennies” in its future budgets. District officials said the rejected VATRE would mean that the district
would have to make drastic budget cuts, including thenproposed raises for teachers in a highly competitive job market. Since then, the district has made good on that prediction, making deep budget cuts that have fallen heavily on the administrative side. In May, voters overwhelmingly approved the district’s $1.26 billion bond referendum, the largest in Fort Bend ISD’s history. That feat, however, weighed on some board mem-
bers’ deliberations on whether to call for a tax rate increase or by how much, wondering if voters’ appetite for approving more money for the district might wane.
District staff laid out several proposals for a VATRE, ranging from 2 to 5 cents per $100 valuation, and breaking
SEE ELECTION PAGE 2
Needville Little League thankful for support in LLWS run
By Ken Fountain KFOUNTAIN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Since the Fluor corporation made the long anticipated announcement in May that it was leaving its Houston-area headquarters in Sugar Land, there was much speculation about what would become of the vast campus in the Lake Pointe area. That uncertainty was somewhat put to rest last week when Planned Community Developers, a company with deep roots in Sugar Land, announced plans to transform the 53-acre site into a modern mixed-used development called Lake Pointe Plaza meant to capitalize on the latest trends in suburban development. Representatives of the company, which previously developed the 10,000-acre First Colony housing development, Sugar Land Town Square and the adjacent Lake Pointe Town Center, and Gensler, the lead planner on the project. gave an extensive presentation on the proposal during a City Council meeting on Aug. 22. “Guided by Gensler, the master plan for Lake Pointe Plaza thoughtfully integrates innovative concepts inspired by the site’s extensive waterfront. Prominent elements encompass an interactive wharf dining experience with piers and bridges extending into Brooks Lake, novel highdensity residential offerings, diverse entertainment venues, mature tree-lined streets, an array of walking trails and parks, and a captivating ‘beacon’ lighting theme,” PCD said in a press release that went out the day before the City Council meeting.
SEE PLANS PAGE 2
Needville Little League (seen in this team photo) recently completed their run at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Needville finished as the United States runner-up. Contributed photo.
By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Needville Little League baseball coach Andy McRae is a native of the town, with generations of his family having been born, raised, and lived in the little town situated near the southern edge of Fort Bend County. He knows firsthand how tight knit the community is. But what’s happened during his team’s run to the Little League World Series, he said, was beyond most anything even he could imagine. “It was just really huge.
I can’t say enough about how the city of Needville was,” McRae said Monday from a shuttle bus as the team returned home from Williamsport. “The support was beyond belief. People say that we put it on the map, and maybe we did for a little while.” T he Needville team returned Monday from Williamsport, Pennsylvania – the annual home of the Little League World Series, where Needville recently represented the Southwest region against the best that Little League Baseball had to offer. Needville made it all the way to championship
game in the United States bracket before falling 6-1 last Saturday against El Segundo Little League from California. The team would then also lose 10-0 on Sunday to Chinese Taipei in the LLWS third-place game. Despite the ultimate end result, however, McRae said that the pride he and the city of Needville feels for their hometown team is immeasurable after what felt like a surreal summer. After all, the team finished the season as the second-best team in the United States and the
SEE LEAGUE PAGE 2
From playing and press conferences to meeting players from around the world and more, Needville manager Andy McRae said the World Series experience was one the players won’t seen forget. Contributed photo.